Red Bull and McLaren want pole, Lotus hunts victory

With all three practice sessions done it is now clear that its impossible to predict who is going to take pole position or a victory in Spain tomorrow.

After Friday practice session’s 1 and 2 were over it was more than obvious that nobody has a fast enough car to confidently claim pole or victory in Barcelona.

If we are to look at the times sheets, according to Autosport, McLaren and Red Bull will fight for the Pole Position while Lotus has the fastest car in the race.

Mark Hughes said: “McLaren and Red Bull appear to be well-matched in race trim, both able to do competitive stint lengths at good pace on the softs and both not that much slower on the hards. Button’s pace on the hards appeared to hold up slightly better than Vettel’s – but Hamilton looked faster than either on those tyres. But still not as fast as the Lotuses. This could be fascinating.”

“The apparent inability of the Lotus to find the last couple of tenths of raw pace over one lap and its great potential race pace may be two different facets of the same underlying characteristic. Either by chance, design or set-up choices, the Lotus E20 is the only car that seems always to be quick in race trim and that does not fall in and out of the narrow little window of tyre performance. But it cannot quite summon a pole challenge either. The question may well be if the track position penalty of this trait can be overcome by the pace on Sunday at a track where traditionally passing has been difficult.”

Now with the third practice session producing stranger than anticipated results with Vettel occupying the top position followed closely by Pastor Maldonado from Williams and Kamui Kobayashi from Sauber, the speculation of whom will get the pole is wide open, but all will be cleared in about one and a half hours. Stay tuned for the Spanish Grand Prix 2012 qualifying results.